


Bad Religion (Dumb Bitch Jaehyun)

by keyandtonyoutsold



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: A surprise couple at the end ig, Alternate Universe - Office, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun-centric, Light Angst, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Unrequited Love, lots of realizations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 19:32:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17731289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keyandtonyoutsold/pseuds/keyandtonyoutsold
Summary: It was the year of realizing stuff for Jaehyun.He had three realizations in particular: One, his new boss, Kim Doyoung was a dick; two, love at first sight was real and it was just like they describe it in the movies; and three, he was a fucking idiot.





	Bad Religion (Dumb Bitch Jaehyun)

**Author's Note:**

> This is rated T cause of all the cursing and also because it's set in an office (adulthood should come with its warning tags)

 

It was a big day at the office. They had been sans boss for two weeks and they were finally going to meet their newly appointed CFO. Jaehyun had learned from Joohyun who had heard from Sooyoung that their new boss was around their age and that he had managed to beat older and more experienced candidates for the position, so everyone was curious.

Kim Doyoung did not look like an intimidating man. He was of average height, slim and attractive. He had a small face and neatly cut black hair; the way he carried himself however, spoke volumes of his status. His eyes were sharp and his tongue sharper.

His speech was extremely formal, but his bows were barely little more than exaggerated nods; he had that air of superiority that everyone associated with people in business. He didn’t smile much, nor did he seem to be interested in small talk with any of the other employees, which was a little downer, because their former CFO had been a very warm man whom they all still respected and loved. Too bad he got arrested for trying to smuggle drugs up his ass through customs at the airport.

Things were a little tense as everyone tried to familiarize themselves with Doyoung, but they only got really awkward when Taeil brought out the champagne after Doyoung was done with his speech.

 “Alcohol in the middle of a work day?” Doyoung asked, his tone accusatory, causing a blanket of silence to fall over the room.

“It’s just a celebratory toast, sir.” Taeil responded, his voice a little shaky. He was known around the office for being a bit too sensitive.

“I’ll take a glass of sparkling water, and I suggest you all do as well.”

Who the fuck drank sparkling water for a toast.

The party died down after that; it had never really kicked off to begin with. Doyoung made it very clear that he was all about getting straight to business. The speech he gave included barely any anecdotes about him or his old job and was mostly on his new organizational strategy, which he’d already made into a power point presentation he’d promised to email to the entire office later. Fun.

“Wow, our new boss is kind of a jerk.” Jaehyun said once Doyoung disappeared into his office with the CEO’s PA Sooyoung.

“I think he’s just trying to be serious about the job, it’s an important position.” Taeil replied, as though Doyoung hadn’t just almost made him cry few minutes ago.

Most of them were settling back at their desks. None of them had expected to actually work that day, but their new boss had other ideas.

“You can’t call people jerks just because they don’t fall for your ass kissing, Jaehyun.” Joohyun interjected.

“I did no such thing! I was just trying to be friendly.” And he was. He had tried starting casual conversation with Doyoung at least four separate times during the welcoming party, but Doyoung had somehow kept making it circle back to work and while Jaehyun admired his professionalism, he got frustrated because yes, maybe he didn’t appreciate it when people didn’t fall for his charms.

“Sure, because you’re not a compulsive people pleaser who literally cannot stand it when others, especially figures of authority don’t like you.”

“I…”

“Anyway, give him a chance, he’s probably just putting on a tough front so that we don’t take him for granted, he’s relatively young for such a big position, he wants us to respect him.” She added with a shrug, Joohyun was notoriously good at everything, but especially at reading people.

“Did you know that I fear, but also admire you so much?” Donghyuck told her, a look of reverence in his eyes. He was one of their two interns, fresh out of college, eager and enthusiastic and still so full of life, not yet drained by corporate environment.

Jaehyun had started like that too few years ago, when the company had been only kicking off in its new form under its new CEO. A lot had changed since then, the brand had shot off unexpectedly with Taeyong’s full creative control over the company, they had moved to a building in a much nicer area and their salaries had increased significantly with the international expansion and recognition the brand had got.

And now they got a new CFO. In Jaehyun’s work experience so far, change had fortunately always meant good things.  And maybe Joohyun was right and she was most of the time –not that Jaehyun would ever admit that. So he’d give Doyoung another chance, maybe he just needed some time to warm up to them.

***

Giving Doyoung a chance to prove himself as not being a dick only proved that Doyoung was in fact a dick. It had been a week since he took the job and their department had never been this efficient, but efficiency meant an intense work load and no one wanted that, except maybe Joohyun because she was weird like that.

Doyoung was curt and sharp and barely spared any of the employees time of the day outside of talking about work. He stayed in his office all day; he even ate his meals there. It kept them all on their toes because their former CFO had never been this diligent about work, which meant none of them had had to be either. They used to get things done, not always in time, but they always managed to do their job. Doyoung didn’t need to be so goddamn suffocating. Also he could always be a little nicer to everyone around.

Jaehyun parked and stayed in his car for a while, eyes closed, counting his exhales before he had to get moving. They all had to start coming to the office earlier (read: on time) and it affected his sleep schedule. He used to wake up and prepare a full breakfast and check his phone for whatever picture Johnny had snapped on his morning run and reply to the good morning texts in his extended family Line group chat, now he barely had time to get a cup of coffee before he had to leave to beat the morning rush.

He got out of his car just in time to bump into Taeyong, fashion prodigy and young CEO of 0 Mile.

“Hi, Jaehyun!” Taeyong greeted; bless his soul, he was so sweet to everyone. He made sure to remember everyone’s names and it didn’t hurt that he was so easy on the eyes –Jaehyun might have had a little crush on him when he'd first started working for the company, but he was past that.

“Good morning, sir.”

“Jaehyun please.”

“Good morning, Taeyong.” Jaehyun loved messing around with Taeyong, it was always worth it to see the radiant smile after Jaehyun would call him by his first name. Taeyong did not like or appreciate any sort of formality, he was on first name basis even with the interns.

“Why so early?”

“Early morning means more productivity, according to Yuta.” Taeyong said as they made their way to the elevator. Yuta was Taeyong’s best friend and business partner to some extent, he didn’t have an official title at the company and no one could honestly say what his job was. “The new clothing line is kicking my butt, it’s so hard being innovative under pressure.”

“You have a good team by your side though, you guys can make it.” Taeyong was a genius, but genius alone did not cut it in business, he had Yuta, who was a little nuts and liked to push Taeyong to the limit, and also had an incredible team of couturiers that were equally as talented as him, which gave them a lot of privileges in the company. Jaehyun often found himself wondering what it would have been like to work with Taeyong upstairs, but then he’d remember the time his friends Johnny and Seulgi, who did work with Taeyong, had spent an entire night explaining to him the subtle differences between the various types of belts. There were _a lot_ of belts in the world, and so many rules to wearing them. Jaehyun did not have the passion or the patience for fashion.

“I hope so. We have _deadlines_ and _a board_ to answer to, those are a lot of people to disappoint.” Taeyong mumbled as they got into the elevator. He looked as stressed as he sounded.

“You’re not going to disappoint anyone, just look at your record.” And it was true, every line of clothing they’d launched in the past three years had been a major hit. Ever since Taeyong had inherited the company, things had changed for the better. Taeyong’s late father’s vision was that of a business man with no real interest in fashion, Taeyong however, was all about the fashion; he took the brand and the company to whole other level of success and visibility.

They were all fortunate to work for such a visionary man, who also happened to be a sweetheart. If only their new CFO was a little like their CEO.

The elevator stopped soon at the ground floor and it was none other than the said CFO, looking criminally sharp and alert as ever even at 8 am, suit a dark grey, hair pushed back and tablet carefully clutched in hand.

“Doyoung, hi!” Taeyong greeted cheerfully. “Did you park outside?” He asked once the elevator started its trek towards the upper floors.

“I came by taxi.” Doyoung’s response was clipped, he only spared Taeyong and Jaehyun a courteous glance before turning his attention back to whatever he was doing on his tablet, a clear hint that he should be left out of whatever conversation they were having.

“Where is your car?” Taeyong, an angel really, did not get the hint.

“Mechanic’s.”

“You could have used one of the company cars.”

“Other employees need the company cars more than I do, coming by cab is not going to make a dent in my paycheck.”

Holy shit, was it even allowed to speak to the CEO like that?

“Oh of course, you’re right, I was just…yeah.” Taeyong mumbled, looking down at his feet a little like a reprimanded child. “How are you?” He then asked, voice kind as ever.

“Good.” Doyoung replied briskly while typing on his tablet.

“Good…” Taeyong parroted back, Jaehyun wanted to reach over and pull him away from Doyoung's side and maybe also punch Doyoung in the process, but that would definitely get him fired and most likely sued.

“How about you, Jaehyun?” Taeyong then turned to address Jaehyun, “how is working with Doyoung, from like a professional point of view. Doyoung has incredible qualifications and he did amazing on his interview but I’d love to have an opinion of someone who is working so closely with him.”

Oh. Oh man, that was a big question. Jaehyun gulped, torn between Taeyong’s imploring eyes and Doyoung’s calculating ones. He’d stopped typing to stare at Jaehyun, or maybe glare, that was definitely a glare.

“It’s…definitely _different_.” Jaehyun finally answered, they were soon to reach their floor, he wanted out.

“Good different I hope?” Taeyong inquired with a tiny smile.

Doyoung was still looking at him.

“Yeah, good different, of course.” Jaehyun said just as the elevator dinged to announce their arrival at the financial department floor.

***

“He was even a dick to Taeyong.” Jaehyun told Donghyuck. They were huddled in front of Jaehyun’s monitor, pretending to be working on something. Donghyuck didn’t need to learn anything from Jaehyun that he hadn’t already learned at school anyway.

“Taeyong as in our sweet angel CEO who sometimes bakes cookies and brings them to us?” Donghyuck asked, pointing at the monitor and nodding, a serious look on his face. Kid should have pursued a career in acting instead.

“Yes! And Taeyong was just trying to be friendly and make conversation and Doyoung was a complete asshole to him and then to me.” Doyoung had abused his power and blatantly used intimidation tactics on Jaehyun in that elevator.

“Oh so this is really about you.”

“It doesn’t matter, he’s a dick.”

“He’s a bit cold, but I guess it comes with the job. You just like our former CFO cause he let you get away with your long lunch breaks.” And because the man was generally a much better person than Doyoung would ever be.

“Speaking of lunch breaks, I’m definitely going to be late today. I need you to cover for me in case Satan notices.” Jaehyun said, reaching for his wallet because he knew what was coming.

“Pay up.” Donghyuck demanded like usual; the little devil. Jaehyun didn’t mind paying him for his labor because he remembered being an intern too and Donghyuck was a good kid and a good intern, but he was pushing his luck with Jaehyun’s patience and generosity since a 50000 won bill was apparently no longer enough. “Another 50, I’m in more danger with the new CFO.” He said, palm open again in Jaehyun’s face.

“You’re an intern, what’s the worst he can do? Fire you?”

“No, but he can make my life hell. Another 50.”

“You’re getting another 10 and that’s it and remember that you’re technically _my_ intern, _I_ can make your life hell.”

“This is workplace abuse, I’ll file a lawsuit!” Donghyuck stage whispered as Jaehyun gave his ear a particularly mean pinch.

Jaehyun was looking forward to his lunch break that day; he, Johnny and Seulgi hadn’t tried out a new place in a while now and Seulgi had discovered some new Thai restaurant online and she’d been raving about going to it for weeks.

Lunch break was the most cherished time of Jaehyun’s day, mainly because adult relationships were fucking hard and finding time in your busy schedule to hang out with your equally busy friends was a nightmare; Jaehyun was lucky to strike an unlikely friendship with Seulgi and Johnny a year ago at a restaurant near the company.

He’d had an incredibly bad day at work and needed to get out of the office, so he’d ended up in a little shawarma joint few blocks away from the company building. There he’d seen Johnny and Seulgi, strikingly visible with their colorful clothes and bold accessories in a sea of people in suits and formal clothes. He’d encountered the pair in passing at the company; everyone working at 0 Mile knew them; they were in the CEO’s inner circle, his trusted couturiers and fellow designers; they were artists, their labor so much more valued than that of people like Jaehyun.

Intimidated would not cut it for the feeling they instilled in others, but for some reason Jaehyun had had enough courage to approach them that day. They had been hunched over on plastic chairs eating shawarma with their hands after all; no one could look intimidating doing that.

Ever since that day, their lunch dates had become something of a tradition none of them wanted to break. Sometimes they’d eat pre-packed lunches on the building rooftop like high-schoolers, other times they’d go to that same shawarma joint where they’d had their first real conversation, but often they’d go for new places to try out new cuisines and new dishes. That sometimes took them a bit far away from the company building, which had never been a problem for Seulgi and Johnny since Taeyong was very flexible with their work hours and neither had it been a problem for Jaehyun since the former CFO had never really cared. Doyoung, however, did.

“He came out and sat in the lounge ‘cause he said the sunlight made him more alert to work and he noticed you weren’t at your desk. I told him you went to the bathroom and then you got called upstairs but he then rang upstairs and asked for you!” Donghyuck explained in a rush, he looked in genuine distress which meant he was actually telling the truth. “He said to tell you to go straight to his office when you get back.”

Curse Frank Lloyd Wright and open plane offices, this would not have happened if they all had little dark rooms to work in without having to have contact with other people till the day they died.

Jaehyun took a deep breath and marched towards Doyoung’s office. What was the worst thing that could happen? He wouldn’t get fired over something so minor; he was only forty minutes late. He’d get yelled at probably, Doyoung might decide to punish him with a pay cut, or maybe task him with extra work, maybe he’d get suspended.

Jaehyun’s hands got clammier and thoughts got darker as he neared the door to Doyoung’s office.

Doyoung couldn’t fire him but he might coerce him to resign. He might make it his mission to target Jaehyun and make his life at the office so miserable that Jaehyun would have no other option but to quit.

Jaehyun wiped his palms on his pants, _thank god he'd decided to wear black that day,_ and then knocked on the door of his boss’ office. 

“Jaehyun.” Doyoung said as greeting without looking away from his monitor, motioning for Jaehyun to sit. He sounded and looked calm, which was a good sign. Maybe. Doyoung always looked calm, which made it so hard for Jaehyun to read him.

“Sir.”

Doyoung sat straight then, looking directly at Jaehyun. There was a long moment of silence before he spoke.

“Are you not satisfied with the length of the lunch break employees get?”

“I am, sir. I think one hour and a half is quite adequate.” It was a lot more than what most employees in other companies got, but Seulgi and Johnny got even longer lunch breaks, which afforded them the luxury of straying far from the company building during breaks, and even though Jaehyun wasn’t part of the cool designers’ clique, he enjoyed acting as if he were.  

“Right. That’s not what I called you in here for though.”

“It isn’t?” Doyoung missing a chance to chew him out seemed strange. Just two days before, Taeil had come out of Doyoung’s office crying because he’d messed up few numbers on a report. Admittedly, Taeil was known for crying easily, but still.

Jaehyun waited for the other shoe to drop.

“No, I want you to deliver these to the bank. Make sure they get signed and discuss any issues, here.” Doyoung instructed, sliding a stack of files towards Jaehyun. So it’d be a little extra work; that was okay, Jaehyun could handle it.

“Yes, sir, I’ll ask Donghyuck to take them and I’ll give the bank a call.”

“I don’t think you heard me correctly, Jaehyun.” Doyoung then said, his tone a little sharper than usual, which was itself a feat. “I want _you_ to deliver these yourself. I think it’ll do you good to get out since you seem to enjoy being out of the building so much.”

And there was the other shoe; dropped.

“With all due respect, sir,” Jaehyun started, he fisted his hands in order to stop them from shaking. Contrary to popular belief, Jaehyun did have a spine and he would not stand for being bullied like that. “I have more important tasks to attend.”

“No you don’t.” Doyoung said with a tone so clipped it left no room for debate. Jaehyun then understood Doyoung’s game, he was punishing Jaehyun by belittling him.

The air dripped with intensity as they stared at each other for a moment before Jaehyun suddenly stood up. He could make a scene, argue with Doyoung some more, but that was probably what Doyoung wanted so that then he’d have a valid reason to fire Jaehyun. Jaehyun would never give him the satisfaction, so he took the files a little forcibly then shot Doyoung a wide smile before leaving without adding one single word.

***

Jaehyun was not the sort of person to get angry easily. He always prided himself for his cool temper, but Doyoung managed to piss him off enough that even Donghyuck hadn’t dared to talk to him on his way out from the office. He’d asked him if he got fired via text which Jaehyun had replied to with a dry no.

They had a courier for this kind of errand and when the courier wasn’t available they’d send one of the interns, this was not in Jaehyun’s job description, fuck Doyoung and whatever high horse he was on.

Jaehyun got out of the bank and looked at his watch. Doyoung hadn’t set a time limit for him so Jaehyun was going to be as petty as he could without getting into trouble and waste more time out of spite before going back to the office. He left his car parked near the bank and went around exploring. He ended up at an empty park, surrounded by few shops and cafés.

It was a nice area, quiet, secluded, a little hidden nook in the middle of the city. 

He went into few clothes shops and one antique furniture shop before he ended up at a comicbook store. Johnny was a huge comic nerd and Jaehyun really wanted to up his birthday gifting game from the disaster that was the previous month. Admittedly, it had been the first birthday they celebrate together and Johnny had kept saying that anything would be fine whenever Jaehyun asked about what he’d like for a present, so Jaehyun had freaked out and pushed buying him a gift until the day before his birthday and ended up gifting him with a tie; Johnny hated ties.

The store was small, compared to the one Jaehyun had seen at the mall. It had a cozy feeling to it; there were posters of various TV shows and movies and comics hung all over the walls, some were Korean, other Japanese, but most were American. There was a young woman at the front desk, head shaved and piercings glittering in the afternoon light filtering from the windows. She did not pay Jaehyun any mind as he made his way inside and towards the American comicbooks section. 

“Can I help you with anything, sir?” A quiet voice inquired from behind.

“Yeah, actually,” Jaehyun turned to talk to who was sure a worker at the shop and _Oh._

Oh. He was gorgeous.

Jaehyun stood and stared at the prettiest face he’d ever seen his entire life, maybe third prettiest, he worked with Joohyun and Taeyong after all. “I’m looking for uh,” he tore his eyes away from the man to check his phone for the title, “Tales of Suspense issue 39, in English,” he said, squinting a bit to read the name tag of the angel who’d just graced him with his presence, “Jungwoo.”

God, it had been a long time since his heart did the thing where it felt like it was almost about to grow wings and burst out of his chest to soar.

Jungwoo let out a scoff that seemed to be involuntary because he soon stopped to furrow his brow in confusion, “oh you’re serious?” The way the expressions changed on his face was adorable; Jaehyun was barely registering what he was saying, “Sir, do you know how rare and expensive that is?”

Jaehyun shrugged, he had just googled first Iron man appearance in comics and got the title, he wanted to give Johnny a gift with a little more thought put into it.

“How about the first issue of Iron man then?”

“1968 Invincible Iron man, that’s more reasonable,” Jungwoo said, Jaehyun knew next to fuck nothing about comics, he didn’t know what was reasonable and what wasn’t, he just wanted to keep looking at Jungwoo. “First issues are really hard to come by and it still costs a lot, but let me check our inventory.” He added as he started walking towards the front desk, the employee whom Jaehyun had seen when he’d first came in now gone. It was a quiet afternoon; there was no other customer in the store besides him.

Jungwoo settled in front of the computer then eyed Jaehyun’s suit for a moment before he started typing, “you don’t look like the type to enjoy comics.” He commented with a smile and wow maybe love at first sight was a thing after all.

“Well I’m not, it’s for my friend. Although I imagine I could get into it.”

“Of course. So we don’t have that comic in any of our shops here in Seoul, and I don’t think you’ll find it anywhere in the country, but I can send an email to our suppliers in the states and see?”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Whatever Jungwoo would say would be a good idea, he should never stop talking.

“Meanwhile, maybe you can look for something else for your friend. Is your friend strictly Marvel or do they also read DC? Other indie companies?”

“What’s the difference?” Jaehyun asked, doing his best to look as clueless as possible. He might not have extensive knowledge of comic books, but he had already known the difference between the major American comics companies. Johnny had once sat him down an entire evening at a bar explaining the whole shtick to him; his friend was very intense about his superheroes. So Jaehyun did have a basic understanding of the comicbook business, but he just wanted Jungwoo to keep talking and keep paying attention to him. 

“Oh. Well,” Jungwoo started, face breaking into a wide grin and oh my god his teeth were adorable; Jaehyun was not going to survive this.

Jungwoo got a little carried away with his explanation, which he paired with a tour of the American comicbooks section and demonstration of the different types of comics they had. He seemed very passionate about the whole thing it reminded Jaehyun of Johnny, it was cute. Jungwoo didn’t seem to notice that he kept crossing the line between friendly and formal, with all his animated talk and jokes and then with the random sir he’d drop at the end of few sentences.

“Oh my, I spoke too much.” He said bashfully after a while, he looked even more adorable when embarrassed.

“No, it’s fine. I have about ten more minutes to kill and I’d rather be here than at the office anyway.” Jaehyun said with a shrug, his anger had dissipated and he was now strangely grateful for the chain of events Doyoung’s punishment had triggered, not that he’d ever be grateful for Doyoung, he was a dick.

“Let me guess,” Jungwoo stopped to give Jaehyun a once over, “you work in a bank?”

“Close enough, financial department of a fashion brand.” Jungwoo made a face at that, not usually the reaction Jaehyun got when he told people about his profession. 

“It’s so stifling, work gets super repetitive and mundane.”

“Sounds like you know what you’re talking about.”

“I do, I got a bachelor in finance.”

Huh.

“You’re kidding, how did you end up here?”

“Worked three years at a bank then two at a tech company financial department and I was…miserable, absolutely and terribly miserable.” A flash of sadness crossed Jungwoo’s features. “Finance was just something I got thrust into, it was never something I wanted to do.” Jaehyun knew a lot of people like that; he’d gone to school with a lot of people like that.   

“And what is it that you want to do? Cause I doubt working at a comicbook store was the big dream you’re chasing.” That got a laugh out of Jungwoo and that was more like it, sadness did not fit him, he should always be happy.

“It’s not. I got a job at KBS radio too. I’d love to host a radio show someday. And I’m working on a little comic of my own. I’m trying to find what I like best, so being around the things I like is good motivation.” Jungwoo said and oh that tiny smile was back on his face. Jaehyun couldn’t help but mirror it.

“That’s admirable.”

“Thank you..?” Jungwoo trailed off, raising his eyebrows in the cutest way Jaehyun had ever seen on a man. Right, he hadn’t told Jungwoo his name yet.

“Oh, Jung Jaehyun.”

“Nice to meet you, Jaehyun.” His name had never sounded sweeter.

They exchanged numbers after that, so that Jungwoo could keep Jaehyun updated on the iron man comic matter and also for when Jaehyun got more information about what other comics and characters Johnny liked.

Jaehyun left the store that day with a stack of comicbooks, an Iron man keychain and a full heart.

***

“He sent me to run errands, can you believe that?” Jaehyun said for probably the fourth time that day, he’d chattered Donghyuck’s ear off about Doyoung that entire morning because he was the only one to always lend Jaehyun an ear. He’d already bitched about the whole thing last night to Johnny and Seulgi over texts. He’d even called his mom to tell her. He was _bitter_.

“But you were free.” Seulgi said with an air of absolute disinterest, her attention drawn more to the patterns on the napkin holder in front of her than to what Jaehyun was saying.

Due to the incident on the day before, the restaurant they were in for lunch that day was only across the street from the company. Jaehyun even had an alarm set for when his lunch break was almost over.

“Well I’m sure he doesn’t spend all eight hours in his office actually doing work. Having nothing to do sometimes at the office is normal.” Jaehyun shot back, looking at Johnny, who was sitting next to him, for support. Johnny just shrugged, silently siding with Seulgi on the matter. Traitor.  

“He does actually spend all eight hours working though. I heard from Soyoung that Taeyong is drowning in paper work cause of Doyoung. Apparently our last CFO wasn’t doing his job that well.” Seulgi then said.

Poor Taeyong, even he didn’t escape Doyoung’s clutches.

“He was. Doyoung is just too intense. He’s reviewing the detailed financial record of the company and everyone involved with it, he’s nuts.”

“He’s just doing his job, those are some big shoes to fill.” Johnny interjected. He wasn’t wrong, but he wasn’t the one who had to work with Doyoung every day.

“He could be nicer about it. He doesn’t even return my good mornings, he just nods at me and goes into his office.”

“God, Jaehyun, we get it, you can’t stand people not liking you.” Seulgi said just in time for the waiter to come with their food.

“That’s not true!” Jaehyun exclaimed, flashing the waiter a dimpled smile before turning to glare at Seulgi. He did not need everyone to like him, he just needed people he was nice to return the courtesy and Jaehyun was nice to everyone, so yeah maybe he did need everyone to like him.

“It is. Remember the thing with the intern from last year?” He hated it when she brought that up.  

“We don’t talk about that.” He mumbled as he dug into his food, making sure to aim a mean elbow to Johnny’s side for his snickering. “Anyway, speaking of people who like me, I met someone, I think.”

The oh’s he got from his two friends as reaction were very different. While Seulgi’s _oh_ was that of enthusiastic curiosity, Johnny’s was a little stiff sounding. Johnny always got a little weird when Jaehyun brought up his crushes on guys, not in a bad way, but just…weird. Jaehyun thought it was maybe because Johnny couldn’t really relate to Jaehyun in that aspect and that was why it made him go quiet every time Jaehyun spoke about his love life.

“Well there’s nothing. I just I think I have a crush, I don’t even know if he likes men. Although he does have a little rainbow sticker on his phone case so maybe?” Jaehyun finished with a shrug too casual to convey how he felt about Jungwoo. “But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.” He added while he was, in fact, getting ahead of himself. He had already planned their wedding on his way to work that morning.

Jungwoo had sent him a link of someone selling that Tales of Suspense issue for 3000 dollars on eBay. Jaehyun loved Johnny, but not enough to get him a 3000 dollars comicbook. They’d just continued talking after that, texting each other random bits about themselves and their lives. Jungwoo had stopped texting him a bit around 8 PM then picked right up at 5 AM because his work hours at the radio station were wild like that.

“Jaehyun, you can’t just assume these things about people, ask.” Johnny said with an uncharacteristically stern voice. Johnny and his so called American values and love for confrontation. Not everyone had it in them to face people so boldly.

“Johnny’s right, assumptions aren’t always correct. It happens to me a lot, people always assume I’m a lesbian.” Seulgi added, pointing at Jaehyun with her fork.

“But you _are_ a lesbian.”

“Yeah, but my point is it shouldn’t be an assumption based on the way I look or behave. I could be strai- God, no I can’t even finish that sentence.” The fake gag she let out was disgusting –they were eating- but it lifted the mood and made them all chuckle. Jaehyun stole a glance at Johnny on his right and relaxed when he saw that his friend’s face had cleared.

“I will ask, at some point. We’re still getting to know each other now anyway.” Jaehyun might have skipped few stages when it came to the way he felt about Jungwoo; he always fell too hard too fast. But he made sure to go about _doing_ things slowly, he was planning to get to know Jungwoo first, try not to get blinded by his infatuation.

Try. And boy how hard was trying.

Over the span of two weeks, their friendship grew and so did Jaehyun’s feelings. It was a constant challenge to not buy a dozen flower bouquet and drop by the comicbook store to propose to Jungwoo.

Because Jungwoo wasn’t only pretty and sweet and graced with the voice of an angel, he was also funny and smart and so incredibly charming.

Jaehyun loved waking up to his morning texts, where he’d complain about the cold weather and sometimes give Jaehyun a hot piece of gossip about a celebrity guest without really dropping any names, as though it would be so hard for Jaehyun to check who was on the show that morning. Other times it would be of pictures of his cat Cheese ( _cause he got yellow stripes, Jae_ , Jungwoo had explained), or pictures of the sky or of his face flushed from the freezing morning air. 

They’d been mostly texting each other because their schedules clashed horribly; their lunch breaks didn’t align and by the time Jaehyun finished work Jungwoo needed to be home to feed Cheese, who got easily sick and needed to maintain a strict dietary schedule. Nights were a big no for Jungwoo as well because he needed to sleep early in order to be functional at the extremely early hour his job at the radio station demanded. And then the weekend was Jungwoo’s Personal Time as he had dubbed it in one his texts. He needed that free time to relax and work on his comicbook. Jaehyun respected that; he knew how hard it could be to balance a career, a social life and some time for yourself. Which was why he  did not push Jungwoo to make time for him and instead made time in his schedule for Jungwoo, which just so happened to be at five in the morning. 

But God it was so worth it to see Jungwoo freak out over text when he’d told him to come get him from the parking lot of KBS radio main building and it was even more worth it when Jaehyun saw Jungwoo, fluffy parka secured around his frame and soft brown hair bouncing as he ran towards him before stopping to stare at him with wide eyes.

“You’re nuts! It’s 5 am!” Jungwoo said as greeting and wow his voice, his smile, his bunny teeth and soft looking cheeks. Jaehyun had missed all of it.  

“I was in the neighborhood, taking a stroll, thought I’d drop by.” Jaehyun replied with a smile of his own, playing at being overly casual. There was nothing casual about driving an hour in the snow at such an early hour to come see a friend.

Jaehyun had jokingly brought up how the only time that suited both him and Jungwoo for a meet up was at dawn and Jungwoo had playfully dared him to come have breakfast with him at 5 am and so there they were.

It was so stupid, Jaehyun had barely got three hours of sleep and he had a full shift at the office later that day, but Jungwoo was laughing and his cheeks were flushed pink and his eyes were sparkling and Jaehyun felt so stupidly in love.

The cafeteria was quiet, even though it was relatively full with employees getting their intake of caffeine before they had to start work.  It was something about the morning hour and the cold weather than made everyone drowsy and slow, wishing they were at home instead, catching up on few more hours of sleep. Not Jaehyun, though, not when he was sitting across from Jungwoo, who was still in disbelief that Jaehyun made the trip to come have breakfast with him at such an unbelievable hour.

“I always wanted to check out a radio station. It’s interesting seeing things from this side.” Jaehyun said, if only to distract himself from watching Jungwoo eat the mini cakes Jaehyun had brought with him because just like about everything about Jungwoo, the simple basic act of eating was making Jaehyun’s heart go _woosh._

“How much time do you have before you have to go to work?” Jungwoo asked, neatly folding the napkin he’d just used to wipe his hands before taking a sip of his coffee. Everything about him was neat, the way he dressed, the way he ate, the way he spoke, it even seeped into the way he texted, with his perfect grammar and perfect punctuation and perfect use of emojis and memes. He was just a little bundle of neatness that made Jaehyun’s heart do back flips in his chest from the amount of affection he felt towards him.

“About an hour and fifteen minutes.” He would need to start driving early if he wanted to make it to 0 Mile on time. It was going to be an even longer drive from the radio station to work, but it was worth it.

“Okay come with me. I’ll show you around.” Jungwoo said as he stood up, prompting Jaehyun to follow suit.

“Aren’t you supposed to get to work?” Jaehyun asked, perplexed and Jungwoo winked at him and oh, that was dangerous. Jaehyun had honestly just wanted to see Jungwoo, have breakfast with him and then he’d planned on driving to work and take a nap in his car before he had to go upstairs. He did not expect Jungwoo to ditch his duties to keep him company, but it looked like Jungwoo was going to.

“Give me ten minutes,” he said as he checked something on his phone before looking up at Jaehyun with a smile, “and I’ll be all yours.”

God, Jaehyun wished.

Jungwoo’s presence in Jaehyun’s life was like a cup of hot tea after a long day, like that first welcoming whiff of coffee when you enter a café, like burying your nose in the warmth of an especially fluffy scarf. Jungwoo’s was that first ray of sunshine after a winter of darkness, Jaehyun might be a little over his head, but whatever happened, he wished to be in Jungwoo’s life for as long as Jungwoo would have him.

They never ran out of things to talk about. Jungwoo was animated and engaging and he was just such a nice change from Jaehyun’s usual circle of people.

It felt good to talk to him, about everything and anything. It also felt so good to let out his frustration about his boss to someone who was completely on his side. _Seulgi and Johnny and everyone in the office can suck it with his rationalizations._

Every time Jaehyun would complain about Doyoung to Jungwoo (without mentioning any specifics of course, he wasn’t unprofessional), Jungwoo would send him the angry emoji and tell him he’d fight Jaehyun’s boss for him. Jaehyun would always end up laughing because the mental image of Jungwoo and Doyoung fighting was hilarious. He’d quickly change the subject because fuck Doyoung, it was enough he was making Jaehyun’s days shit at the office, he’d not let him seep into his personal life.

Jaehyun’s heart only grew fonder every day, he was so endeared with every little thing Jungwoo did. Granted, they had only known each other for few weeks and they didn’t get to see each other much and it wasn’t like they talked all day either –Jaehyun wished, but they were both were busy adults with demanding jobs- but Jaehyun was completely head over heels.

Johnny disapproved of how much he was emotionally invested in this ‘crush’ (crush didn’t really cut it, crush was what Jaehyun had had on TVXQ Yunho when he was in middle school, a crush was what Jaehyun had had on Taeyong when he’d first started working at 0 Mile. He felt a lot more for Jungwoo.) Seulgi called him a dumbass for falling so fast, but Jaehyun was a dumbass in love and nothing else mattered.

***

“So nice to see you in the break room during lunch so often, Jaehyun.” Taeil said with a teasing smile as he took a seat on the table next to Jaehyun.

The last week leading to a new clothing line launch would always be the most hectic for Johnny and Seulgi and everyone on the designing team. The deadline for releasing the new summer line was approaching and so his friends had to spend every minute of the work day holed up upstairs with Taeyong at the atelier.

Everyone who mattered in Jaehyun’s life seemed to be busy, his parents were away on their anniversary vacation, Seulgi and Johnny were up to their necks in work and even Jungwoo was too busy to talk most days because of his boss’ deciding to renovate the entire store while keeping it running at the same time.

“Ha ha.” Jaehyun responded in a flat tone, “at least I don’t eat lunch in my office alone like a loser.”

“Who are we talking about?” Yerim asked Joohyun who made sure to look right at Jaehyun before rolling her eyes.

“Doyoung.” She replied, to which Yerim responded to with a very judgmental ‘of course.’ God, there was so much of Joohyun’s character in her. 

“Do we even know if he eats?” Donghyuck asked from across Jaehyun. He was shoveling food into his mouth like a man starved. Taeil balled a napkin then threw it at him, right between the eyes. Kid didn’t even blink and just continued eating.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Joohyun scoffed.

“Have we ever seen him drink anything? Have we ever seen him in front of a mirror? I’m just saying…” 

“He is really pale too.” Yerim added, nodding at Donghyuck.

“What are you implying?” Taeil asked, leaning over the table with wide eyes. To think he was the second eldest in the room.

“Our boss might be a vampire.” Yerim said after a moment of silent, squinting suspiciously.

“His favorite activity is to sit in the sun.” Joohyun said matter-of-factly, and it was true. They had learned that Doyoung loved hunting the sunniest spots in the office to sit in them and work. It would have been cute if it wasn’t also a way for him to monitor everyone so closely.

“Maybe he uses really strong sunscreen.” Taeil interjected.

God, his colleagues were all bunch of children.

“Vampires are charismatic.” Jaehyun then said. He too, was a child. “I was thinking more in the lines of Frankenstein’s monster with a good plastic surgeon.” He added with a shrug.  

Silence fell over the room as everyone stared at him. Joohyun was the first to break it.

“I’ve never heard Jaehyun say something this mean about anyone before.”

“Well, he’s a dick.”

“Jaehyunnie is really mad he can’t go for his long lunch breaks in fancy restaurants with his friends anymore.” Taeil teased, gently pinching Jaehyun’s ear.

“It’s not just that, he’s mean and rude.” Jaehyun said in a tone that came out way brattier than he wished it to be. He wasn’t whining, he was complaining, which was valid.

“He is a little harsh with his words, I’ll give you that.” Taeil agreed. He was the one who got most of the heat from Doyoung since being his secretary meant he worked so closely with him.  

“I think he just tries to keep things professional.”

“No, you keep things professional without being an asshole, he’s just an asshole.” Jaehyun told Joohyun with more anger than he’d intended, he’d even somehow ended up pointing a finger at her, which he would never to do under normal circumstances. Okay maybe he was still bitter about the lunch break thing. “I pity his friends, that is if he has any.” He added, settling back in his chair.

“Maybe he just doesn’t have time for friends.” Donghyuck said from where he was next to the trash can by the door, scrapping his lunchbox clean of the bones he’d miraculously not eaten as well. “Look at me,” he started, pushing his head back and putting a serious expression on his face, signaling to the room that he was going to give them a little comedy show, that was always fun. “I’m Kim Doyoung, CFO of 0 Mile, I am a horrible boss who probably lives alone, feasts on the hearts of little children and has no one to love.”

Instead of the laughter Donghyuck would usually elicit from his coworkers with his clownish behavior, he got complete and utter silence.

Silence…because Doyoung was standing right fucking behind him.

“The coffee machine in my office broke.” Their boss offered as explanation for his appearance at the break room.

Donghyuck had shakily taken a seat back at the table without making eye contact with Doyoung and from the looks of it, he was about to start hyperventilating. The color had drained from his face at the sound of Doyoung’s voice; it was the closest thing Jaehyun had seen to a real life recreation of cartoon characters’ soul leaving their body in shock.

Jaehyun felt bad for the kid, but he was also so fucking grateful it wasn’t him caught bad mouthing Doyoung.

The whirring sound of the coffee machine filled the room as everyone stayed quiet, anticipating Doyoung’s next move.

“I don’t actually sound like that, do I?” Doyoung asked and holy shit, holy fucking shit who would even have the guts to answer that.

Joohyun did.

“Of course you don’t, sir, Donghyuck was just being funny. He was doing bad imitations of everyone.” The way everyone turned to look at Donghyuck when she spoke would have been hilarious if the situation weren’t so dawning.

Doyoung hummed before turning to get his coffee and walk to the door, where he stood for a second, regarding the room with his judgmental sharp eyes before he spoke.

“One more thing, I don’t live alone, I live with my boyfriend.” He said before walking out of the room.

What.

The chaos that followed consisted mostly of Jaehyun, Taeil and Joohyun screaming ‘what’ with various emotions, Taeil going to shake Donghyuck out of his stupor and hug some life back into him and then Donghyuck catching up and screaming a ‘what’ of his own.

“I say this in the kindest way possible,” Yerim told Donghyuck as she got up to wash her hands, she seemed to be the calmest one out of all of them, “you’re fucked.” She added with a cackle and a gentle slap to Donghyuck’s cheek.

***

“Do you think he’d bring his boyfriend to the party on Saturday?” Jaehyun wondered aloud from his perch on Donghyuck’s desk. The design team was finally officially done with the upcoming summer line and Taeyong always liked to throw a party for everyone from the company to celebrate the end of a stressful period for him and for good luck for new line. 

Doyoung’s alleged boyfriend had been the talk of the office for the past two days. No one was shocked about the boy in boyfriend part, their company fostered a friendly and safe environment for different people, their own CEO had had boyfriends and girlfriends whom he’d dated very publically. Everyone was shocked that Doyoung was actually _in a relationship_ with someone. He was a very private person, fair, but that was the sort of thing that at least your secretary would typically know about.

“Please, leave me alone! I don’t want to get in more trouble.” Contrary to what they all had thought and what Yerim had clearly articulated, Donghyuck was not actually fucked. Things were the same, and Doyoung, although still an absolute dick, seemed almost a little nicer. He was returning Jaehyun’s good mornings with a short wave now instead of just a nod.

“You didn’t get in _any_ trouble.”

“ _Yet!_ Which feels worse! This is psychological torture!”

“You’re so dramatic.” Jaehyun told Donghyuck, giving him a soft pat on the head. Poor thing was still in distress after the whole lunch break incident. “I think he’s lying about having a boyfriend.”

Donghyuck perked up at that, he looked around, probably checking to make sure Doyoung was not around before he wheeled his chair closer to Jaehyun, “right? It feels like he just said it to not seem pathetic.” As pathetic as a CFO of an international brand of clothing barely over thirty could get.

“Or maybe he does have a boyfriend and you are all just being weird. He’s rich and attractive.” Yerim said, peeking from behind the divider that separated her desk from Donghyuck’s with her usual look of judgment.

“Maybe you’re right, maybe he does have an equally evil boyfriend.” Jaehyun said, earning an eye roll that was an exact imitation of Joohyun’s.

“Or he has a nice boyfriend who he is mean to.” Donghyuck said, once again checking behind his back.

“You are all so weird.” Yerim replied with a disgusted expression before putting on earphones, signaling that she had no interest in the conversation anymore. That was a baby Joohyun in training right there.

“We’ll see I guess at the party, I mean he’s the CFO and it’s a very formal event, he’d bring his boyfriend.” Jaehyun mused. They settled in a comfortable silence for a while after that as Donghyuck worked on his internship report and Jaehyun scrolled through his messages.

“What about you?” Donghyuck asked because he could never go two full minutes without speaking, Jaehyun knew this because he had actually timed him on several occasions.

“I’ll most likely come on my own.”

“What about Lowmel?”

“Who?”

“Lowmel, it says so on your phone, whoever you’ve been texting lately.” Donghyuck gave Jaehyun a pointed look, speaking to him as if he would a child.  

“Hyuck, have you been looking into my phone again? This is the fifth time I change the password.”

“Not my fault your passwords are so predictable. Anyway who is Lowmel, weird name by the way.”

“Lowmel?” _Who the fuck was Lowmel?_ Jaehyun wondered as he looked at his phone to check if he’d missed something. Jungwoo’s last text was at the top of his inbox and oh. “Wait, you think L-O-M-L is a name?” Jaehyun asked, stifling a laugh behind his hand. Donghyuck should thank his lucky stars Yerim was not listening, she would have never let him live it down.

“Okay, whatever Mr. I studied in America for four years, who’s the guy?”

He couldn’t lie to Donghyuck, kid was so good at reading people and Jaehyun was a really bad liar anyway, “just someone I’ve been talking to and I don’t know, you think I should invite him? I haven’t even asked him out yet.”

“A company party is a bit too much for a first date.”

“You’re right.” Jaehyun nodded he got to his feet. He needed to get back to his own desk before Doyoung came back from upstairs.

Jaehyun had in fact almost invited Jungwoo as his plus one to the party, but he had then realized that it would come off a bit too forward and Jaehyun was known for a lot of things, but being bold had never been one of them. He had even forgone telling Jungwoo about the party at all so that Jungwoo wouldn’t accidentally make things awkward by jokingly asking him to invite him over. Plus, he wasn’t yet ready for Johnny and Seulgi to meet him just yet, let along all his colleagues.

Maybe next time though.

“Good, so can I use your plus one to bring my roommate, he’s been dying to come to one of these things.” Donghyuck said, flashing Jaehyun his best smile.

“Fuck off.” He would not let Donghyuck bring his smelly roommate to such an important function.

“Fuck you.” Donghyuck shot back quietly but with a mean glare.

The pinch he got to his ear from Jaehyun for that was well deserved.  

***

The night of the party found the people of the financial department huddled around a high table, drinking free alcohol and making no effort to take advantage of such a function for the sake of their careers.

Jaehyun should have been teaching Donghyuck about networking and he himself should have been going around getting few numbers and showing his face to potential future employers in case Doyoung would ever end up firing him one day. But it was a lot more fun to group in a corner with his colleagues and gossip. These parties were the highlights of their work life. 

They were all zeroing on the entrance of the venue. They had a bet going on whether Doyoung would bring his boyfriend or not. Even Joohyun and Yerim who pretended to be above this silly drama were anticipating Doyoung’s arrival. 

“Shit, no boyfriend.” Taeil sighed when they spotted their CFO come in alone. He reached into his pocket to get his wallet out.

“But wait,” Donghyuck stopped him; they all turned to track Doyoung with their eyes as he made his way to where Taeyong was standing with Yuta and Johnny along with couple more people they didn’t know. Now that itself was pretty normal, a CFO joining his CEO to greet him at a party was standard business etiquette, what wasn’t though was the tight hug Taeyong pulled Doyoung into and Doyoung’s smiling and whispering something in his ear before stepping away to give the other people with them his signature courteous bow.

That was the first time they had seen Doyoung make such an extended physical contact with another human being.

“No…” Jaehyun muttered in horror. There was no way in hell Taeyong and Doyoung were dating. His brain couldn’t even grasp the concept of someone like Taeyong with someone like Doyoung. That hug looked intimate, but no way, maybe they’d got closer –as friends- since that day on the elevator.

It did not add up. Johnny and Seulgi would have known if Taeyong and Doyoung were dating.

“No one is paying until we get verbal confirmation from Doyoung himself if he’d brought his boyfriend or not.” Joohyun said, she, Taeil and Yerim were the ones betting on Doyoung bringing his boyfriend. Jaehyun and Donghyuck didn’t even believe the boyfriend existed, so they’d naturally bet on Doyoung not bringing him.

Jaehyun kept staring at the group, hoping that Johnny would catch his eyes and get the telepathic message from Jaehyun to ask Doyoung about his boyfriend. It would have been so much easier if it were Seulgi instead because she didn’t care about being polite and had no problem checking her phone while talking to people. But she was too busy being elusive, probably slinking around in some corner, going through her Instagram.

Johnny did end up catching his eyes and giving him a small smile before excusing himself to come join Jaehyun and the rest of the finance department in their gossip corner.

“Before you ask, yes I did ask about the boyfriend.” Johnny said once he was in ear shot. Maybe Jaehyun’s telepathic message did work after all. “He said he’s running a bit late because of their cat. They need to maintain a very strict schedule for his meals.”

“Aw, he has a cat?” Yerim cooed.

“I bet he’s lying.” Jaehyun huffed.  

 “He seems like a cat person.” Taeil said.

“Did you know that he had a boyfriend?” Donghyuck asked.

“Not until Jaehyun told me, no.” Johnny replied, sending Jaehyun the confused look that Jaehyun had learned to mean _your coworkers are fucking weird._ Well they didn’t have much entertainment around the office, they had to be innovative.

“Do you know anything about him?” It was Taeil who asked this time. They were all curious and hungry for the tiniest piece of information on their boss.

“I see him a lot less than you do. Yuta and Taeyong seem to know him from before he started working here though.” That explained the hug, Jaehyun thought, but what kind of friend talked to their friends the way Doyoung had spoken to Taeyong that day on the elevator.

“Oh? Did they ever say something about him?” Donghyuck pressed, moving closer to stand next to Johnny, who smiled down at him and patted him on the head like a child.

“Donghyuck, contrary to what you think, we don’t just sit around and gossip, we actually do work upstairs.” Johnny was right, Jaehyun had always thought it was just get idea, put into paper and then make it into clothes, but they had to do so much more, so much research and preparation happened before during and after each new clothing line. Numbers were constant and finance wasn’t really that much of a shifty field, work was work, the fashion designing business though was fickle; trends changed so quickly, keeping up with those changes while also staying unique was not an easy balance to strike.

“Everyone look alive, Doyoung is coming this way.” Taeil warned in a hushed voice. Ever since the incident in the break room, they had all been on their toes, careful to never have Doyoung sneak up on them again.

“Hope you’re enjoying the party.” Doyoung said as greeting, his face looked…weird. He was _smiling_. He appeared uncharacteristically relaxed, face a little flushed as he sipped from his glass of champagne. He was wearing a dark blue suit, which was very colorful in Doyoung’s book; they had only ever seen him in black and shades of grey around the office.

“Very, Johnny told us your boyfriend is running late, I hope he can make it, we’re all looking forward to meeting him.” Joohyun said with a polite smile, bless her for her courage and her spirit; Jaehyun loved her. None of them would survive a day at work without her.

“He just called, he’s almost here, he’s always wanted to come and visit at work but our schedules clash, so he couldn’t.” And wow Doyoung was talking _to_ them, instead of just _at_ them.

“What does he do?” Joohyun asked, keeping the conversation going while everyone else tried not to act as fascinated as they really were by the exchange.

“He’s currently working at a bookstore, well a comicbook store actually, and he has this radio show job on the side.”

Huh.

What were the odds.

It couldn’t be.

“That’s a peculiar career choice, how did you two meet?” Taeil asked.

“At this alumni gathering at Seoul Uni about four years ago, he actually got a degree in finance. He was few years my junior so I never met him while we were still going to college.”

Impossible. Jaehyun felt like he got fully dunked into cold water.

And when the fuck did Doyoung become so chatty.

What were the fucking odds. Jaehyun tried to rationalize the fact that Doyoung’s boyfriend shared few similarities with Jungwoo. So what? Jungwoo wasn’t the only person in Seoul who got a degree in finance and worked at a comicbook store and at a radio station.

It was just a _very_ freaky coincidence.

Not to mention that Doyoung’s boyfriend was probably fake; he wasn’t even going to show up because he did not exist and Doyoung was lying.

Jaehyun was about to ask Doyoung about his boyfriend’s name when he saw his boss perk up to wave at someone behind him, “There he is!” a wide grin appeared on his face as he opened his mouth to call the alleged boyfriend’s name.

Jaehyun closed his eyes shut for a second, he was having a very private and internal emotional breakdown, he had it under control, not even Johnny had noticed, yet.

“Jungwoo!”

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck.

It couldn’t be.

Jaehyun opened his eyes just in time to see Doyoung gather a tall figure in a hug so soft and filled with affection that it made the hug they’d seen him share with Taeyong before pale in comparison.

And yeah that was Jungwoo. Jungwoo in a black suit and a bowtie with his hair slicked back like he’d just come out of a business magazine spread.

“Everyone, this is Jungwoo, my bo-” Doyoung started, a gasp from Jungwoo interrupting him.

“Jaehyun, you work here?” Jungwoo exclaimed, his cute mouth open to reveal his cute bunny teeth and Jaehyun would have been endeared if he weren’t still in complete fucking shock at the turn of events.

“You know Jaehyun?” Doyoung asked, brow furrowed; that was a more familiar expression. At least some things still made sense in the world.

“Yeah, he’s the new friend I told you about.” Jungwoo explained; well not enough apparently if Doyoung couldn’t figure out it was that the friend was the Jaehyun who worked for him.

Everyone had turned to look at Jaehyun, who was rooted in place, silent because what the fuck was he supposed to say. His world just came crashing down and no one around him was aware of that, except maybe Johnny, who had probably connected the dots.

“Oh your Jae is our Jaehyun?” Doyoung mumbled as he turned to look at Jaehyun too then; there were too many eyes on him, he needed to breathe. “What are the odds?” oh the fucking irony.

“See maybe if you told me a little more about your coworkers I would have figured it out sooner.” Jungwoo said with a pout and a small affectionate pat to Doyoung’s shoulder.

Jaehyun felt his heart thudding in his throat, two seconds away from jumping out of his mouth to do a free dive towards the floor.

“Not talking about work at home was your idea!” Doyoung said with mock offense. They seemed so disgustingly domestic.

“Yeah no shop talk, not no talk about your colleagues.”

Everyone was so enthralled by the exchange that they’d stopped sparing confused glances at Jaehyun.

Jaehyun cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention before speaking, “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend, Jungwoo.” He said, his voice coming out harsh, sounding a little more accusatory than he’d wanted it to.

“Oh,” Jungwoo started, looking at his feet before chancing a glance at Jaehyun. “I’m sorry about that, Jae. It’s not something I openly tell people, I’ve had some bad experiences with that before.” Jungwoo explained and fuck, Jaehyun felt like a villain because Jungwoo looked sad, but Doyoung was there to squeeze his arm and caress his cheek because they were a couple, in love, with each other.

Jaehyun nodded, on a good day he’d understand, he really would. But his feelings were a jumbled mess of angry sad disappointed and heartbroken, he didn’t have it in him to be reasonable, so he just remained quiet. The air got a bit tense as everyone just stared at each other.

“I’m Johnny, nice to meet you, Jungwoo.” Johnny said, moving forward to shake Jungwoo’s hand. That seemed to break the tension as the others remembered that they hadn’t yet introduced themselves.

Jungwoo’s smile was soft and warm as he shook everyone’s hands and listened to Doyoung as he told him a little anecdote about each employee and look at that, Doyoung did know things about them. Huh.

Jaehyun tore his eyes away from Jungwoo to look at Doyoung as he regarded Jungwoo, eyes filled so much pride and adoration. 

He looked so…stupid. Jaehyun guessed that was the universal look of people who were in love.

The conversation flowed as Jaehyun remained quiet, finishing his drink in one go before moving to steal Taeil’s (the easiest target). He needed it. He had a lot on his mind. Jungwoo and Doyoung were two completely different people, but they somehow fit together perfectly.

“Doyoung!” Yuta came barreling towards them in his full glorious red suit flurry, catching Doyoung around the arm and speaking far too loudly than he needed to be heard over the soft music. “I need you for a minute, someone is talking to Taeyong about stocks and money and Sooyoong disappeared and he’s about to hyperventilate.”

Doyoung sent a concerned look towards Jungwoo, who seemed to perfectly infer its meaning.

“It’s okay, I already said hi to Taeyong on my way in. I’ll stay here, if it’s okay with them of course.” He directed that last part at Jaehyun and the rest of his colleagues. The way he referred to Taeyong so casually like they were all long time friends was jarring. Jaehyun feared that next he would find out that Jungwoo was a close friend of his mom too. It was a night of surprises after all.

“Oh totally, of course.” Donghyuck said with an innocent smile that turned into a frown the moment Doyoung was out of earshot. “Are you a hired actor?” He asked, squinting at Jungwoo comically.

“What?” Jungwoo blinked, a confused frown marring his features.

“Donghyuck.” Jaehyun said under his breath, a warning edge to his tone. Jungwoo might have just accidentally broken his heart to a million piece, but that didn’t mean he’d let Donghyuck fuck with him.

“Hyuck is kidding, we only found out boss has a boyfriend couple of days ago to be honest, so it threw us off a little.” Taeil explained, smiling warmly at Jungwoo.

“Yeah, he told me how he walked in on you talking about how he was some weird loner.” Jungwoo said, smile back on his face.

Donghyuck winced, flashing Jungwoo an apologetic smile, “is he still mad about that?” Jaehyun heard Johnny let out a snort of amusement from next to him.

“Oh so it was _you_.” Jungwoo said, still as soft and smiley as ever, “not mad, but he was a little sad, we had to watch 50 first dates, that’s his emotional support movie.” Thinking about Doyoung being sad was weird.  The only emotions Doyoung had ever exhibited were disappointed and uninterested.

“He knows he can come off a bit cold, but he just really reserved and he doesn’t know how to keep things professional and be friendly at the same time. He’s trying though.” Jungwoo added, his smile got a little sad, but a little dopey at the same time somehow.

He too looked stupid. Love did that to people.

Hearing someone talk about Doyoung like he was a person was unsettling, thinking about Doyoung being this entire other person with a life outside of work, a boyfriend and a cat was…weird.

“We appreciate it. Really.” Joohyun said. She’d been silent for a while now, observing and analyzing. She had probably figured out exactly what was going on with Jungwoo and Jaehyun. “We’ll try to be more understanding, won’t we Jaehyun?”

“Yeah, we will.” Jaehyun replied, looking down at his drink just so that he didn’t have to make eye contact with Jungwoo. He felt trapped between the looks he kept getting from him, Johnny and Joohyun.

“Oh, Jae,” Jungwoo started and he was addressing him directly, Jaehyun needed to get the fuck out. “So all this time you’ve been tal-”

“I have to go out...for a smoke.” He said, handing his glass to Donghyuck before turning to hightail it out of there.

***

Breathe. In. Out.

Jaehyun didn’t feel like crying, he was heartbroken and shocked and a little mad at Jungwoo and really mad at himself, but he knew he’d definitely cry once he’d be in the safety of his home. He was already planning his High School Musical marathon with a tub of pistachio ice cream and a bottle of wine.

He tipped his head back, exposing his face to that biting cold spring breeze. The hotel patio was thankfully empty save for the occasional smoker who came out only to retreat back inside after few drags because of the cold.

Jaehyun should get back inside too, his fingers were starting to get numb. He should probably leave; he was studying how he could sneak out of the party without any of his nosy colleagues noticing when he felt something warm get draped over him. It was his coat. He looked up to see Johnny, wrapped up in his own jacket, smiling at him.

“You don’t smoke.” Johnny said, leaning his back against the railing.

“I needed some air.” Jaehyun replied as he pushed his arms into the sleeves of his coat, letting out a sigh at the warmth that immediately engulfed him.

They stood there in silence for a while.

“So Doyoung’s Jungwoo is your Jungwoo.” Johnny said in English, he always did that when he felt like Jaehyun needed a layer of protection, from other people listening in and from his own complicated feelings about talking things through.

“I’m a fucking dumbass.” Jaehyun said, chuckling bitterly.

“That you are.” Johnny replied, Ouch. “All this time talking to him and you didn’t think of asking him if he’s seeing someone?”

“People always talk about their significant others, I just assumed he was single since he never mentioned it.”

“You’re so dense, man.”

“Hey, I get it, I’m stupid, I fell for someone who won’t love me back, fine.”

“Join the club.” 

“What club? You?” Jaehyun frowned, he'd never heard Johnny talk about being in love with someone. “Who? Seulgi?”

“Seulgi is a lesbian, Jaehyun.” Johnny said, looking at Jaehyun like he was very stupid, which was fair, that night at least.

“Well yeah exactly why she wouldn’t love you back cause that’s the only reason I can think why someone wouldn’t love you back, _you_ , Johnny. Who wouldn’t love you back?” Johnny was very loveable; anyone who didn’t love Johnny back was a dumbass.

Johnny laughed before sobering up and looking at Jaehyun, “you, Jaehyun.”

“What?”

What the fuck.

Jaehyun felt his cheeks heat up.

_What the fuck!_

“Told you you were dense.” Johnny said, chuckling and turning to lean his front against the railing, calmly looking ahead as if he hadn't just dropped a bomb on Jaehyun and shook his entire world.

What a fucking night.

“I- what? I didn’t even know you were into men!” Jaehyun exclaimed, his voice a bit too loud he heard it echo.

“You never asked. You should really start asking people things, man.” Johnny said way too casually. It was unnerving.

“You always talked about your ex girlfriend in the states, I just-”

“Assumed I was straight.” Johnny then turned to look at him and he was smiling, a little lopsided, and a little sad and fuck, Jaehyun felt it deep in his bones.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” He asked, his voice low. He didn’t have the energy to yell nor be in shock anymore. He could get abducted by aliens and he’d just roll with it at that point.

“That I’m not straight or that I’m in love with you?” Johnny asked, and Jaehyun felt like he just got punched in the gut.

“Both, I guess, but especially the first one, Johnny.”

“I don’t exactly go around telling people unprompted and I didn’t want to make it awkward for you, two men who happen to be into men can be friends without it getting weird, only I went and made it weird by crushing on you.” Johnny said, head dropped low to look at the pool a floor below them. Johnny was big on eye contact while he spoke to people, having him not meeting Jaehyun’s eyes was torturous.

“How long?”

“I guess since that day in the shawarma place.” It had been over year since then.

“Why are you telling me now?”

“I’m taking my own advice for once, not being clear about shit is what got you into this whole mess with Jungwoo, and I might not look like it, but I’ve had _a lot_ of drinks,” he said with a little giggle, Jaehyun couldn’t help by smile at that, Johnny had the cutest giggle. “Figured this would be as good time as any.”

Jaehyun felt like a shit friend, he had thought he knew everything there was to know about Johnny, but now there was a huge chunk of Johnny’s life, his being, that was lost to him.

“I always thought you were straight.” He said, how he could have known otherwise. Regardless of what Johnny said, you couldn’t just go up to people and ask them about their sexuality. “You should have told me, asked me out, I would have said yes, Johnny, a million times yes.”

Talk about missed chances. Johnny was so easy to love. Jaehyun loved him, as his friend, but he imagined it wouldn’t have been that difficult to learn to love Johnny in another way.

“Wow, well.” Johnny was laughing; he did that when he got really nervous. He was still not looking at Jaehyun though.

“So what happens now?” Jaehyun asked, leaning on the railing and twisting his neck a little so that he could look at Johnny. He’d go with whatever Johnny would suggest because Joohyun was right, he was a compulsive people pleaser and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing one of his closest friends.

“Nothing, Jaehyun, you might be cute and you make me want to take you out on dates and hold your hand, but I value you you as a friend and I don’t want to be your rebound guy.” Johnny said, finally looking at Jaehyun, voice kind but assertive, reaching his hand to pat Jaehyun on the head.

He smiled again, ever so sad; Jaehyun’s heart ached for his friend because he knew exactly how he was feeling.

A lot of things finally made sense; the way Johnny would react when Jaehyun brought up his crushes, how closed off he’d get when Jaehyun talked about Jungwoo. Jaehyun had been unknowingly hurting Johnny all this time.

Jaehyun nodded, “maybe one day though.” 

“Maybe.” Johnny said, his smile getting somehow sadder, and Jaehyun wished he could just reach for him and hug him, but that would make things even more awkward. It’d probably be a while before things stopped being awkward between them.

“Someone’s here to talk to you.” Johnny said then, looking over Jaehyun’s head.

It was Jungwoo, shyly standing few feet away.

Jaehyun sighed as Johnny pushed himself away from the railing and patted Jaehyun’s shoulder before leaving the two of them alone.

Breathe. In. Out.

Jaehyun squeezed his eyes shut for a second and braced himself for whatever conversation was going to happen.

“That took a while, how many cigarettes did you smoke?” Jungwoo’s soft voice floated in the air like music.

“I don’t smoke,” Jaehyun said with his best fake smile, the one reserved only for corporate meetings. He didn’t want to alarm Jungwoo and have him ask questions about why was Jaehyun sad. “I just needed an excuse to take a break…things got a bit…”

“Awkward, I know.” Jungwoo said, settling next to Jaehyun. He wasn’t wearing a coat, he looked like he was cold, and some part of Jaehyun stupid childish brain felt good about that. “I should have told you sooner, it’s just that I never know how people would react to my sexuality.”

Jaehyun would have felt a bit wounded if he hadn’t also gone through his own bad experiences with telling people that he was gay. “I get it. It’s the same for me.”

“Now I feel a little stupid.” Jungwoo mumbled, his mouth falling open in a little o to reveal his cute teeth. Jaehyun needed to stop thinking about Jungwoo’s mouth and teeth. He was someone else’s man.

“That makes two of us.” He said, looking back to all the times when he could have been a little clearer about where he exactly worked, maybe then Jungwoo would have figured it out sooner and maybe he would have spared himself the ache of falling in love with his boss’ boyfriend.

“I just have to ask, did you tell Doyoung about all the things I told you about my boss without you knowing that he was my boss?” God, Jaehyun’s entire world got thrown off its axis that night, he really hoped he wasn’t at risk of losing his job too.

“No, I never got into details about what we talk about, Jae, he’s my boyfriend, but you’re my friend and I respect your privacy.”

“Thank god.” At least Jaehyun would get to keep his job.

“Now that I know you’ve been talking about Doyoung all this time, Jae...you have the wrong idea of who he is.”

“You’re just saying that cause he’s your boyfriend.” Jaehyun said, suppressing a shudder at how freakishly weird it felt to say that aloud.

“Yes and that means I know him better than you do. Assuming I did or I ever do tell Doyoung all the things you said about him, he would never use his power to compromise your career, ever. He’s not that kind of person, at all. He’s so serious about his work ethics; it’s a bit frustrating sometimes.” Jungwoo said, voice gentle as he wrapped his arms around himself to shield himself from the cold. Jaehyun felt a little bad. Only a little.

“Did you know that Taeyong had been basically begging him to come work at the company for _years_. When your former CFO left, Taeyong called Doyoung first to let him know that the position was available and his if he wanted it and Doyoung was so angry cause it’s not ethical and insisted that Taeyong brings a third party committee to vet Doyoung and other candidates for the job.”

“Wait, Taeyong and Doyoung have known each other for years?”

“Yeah, they’ve been friends since middle school, they were in the drama club together.” Jaehyun let out an involuntary snort at that, he could see Taeyong doing theatre, but Doyoung? Not so much. “I know Doyoung doesn’t seem like the theatre type, but he said it helped him develop public speaking skills.”

“I’m learning so much tonight.” Jaehyun laughed, looking up at the sky in silent question of  _are you entertained?_

“So you didn’t know?”

“I don’t think anyone at the office knows, Doyoung doesn’t really talk to us about anything that isn’t a work related matter.” Jaehyun explained and he could see the pattern. He was starting to get a full picture of the type of person Doyoung was. If his work ethic was that serious he probably didn’t want any preferential treatment from being childhood friends with the CEO, so he had to act distant and maintain a strictly professional relationship with Taeyong and everyone around him. He could still try to be a little nicer about it, though. The asshole.

Jungwoo nodded and stayed quiet for a minute as they both turned to shield their faces from a particularly cold current of wind. Jungwoo’s eyes seemed to immediately fall on Doyoung’s figure inside, standing straight and imposing as ever while he talked to a group of people as equally imposing. ~~~~

“I mean he can be a little bit of a dick sometimes,” Jungwoo said, getting a chuckle out of Jaehyun, “he’s stubborn, self righteous, very opinionated.” Jungwoo was listing faults but he was smiling as if those were cute quirks. He probably did find them cute since he seemed to be so in love with Doyoung, “but he’s a good guy.”

“I guess I’ll take your word for it.” Jaehyun muttered, looking at Jungwoo’s profile. The look on Jungwoo’s face was stupidly fond; he looked content to just stare at Doyoung, so happy; Jungwoo should always be happy.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I really hope this doesn’t affect our friendship, I really like you, Jaehyun. You’re the first actual friend I made in years.”

Oh.

Jaehyun felt like a sleazy dirt bag.

He wondered how Jungwoo would react if he’d known that Jaehyun had only been trying so hard at being a good friend because he was in love with him.

“Me too, Jungwoo.” He said with a genuine smile this time around. “I don’t think I can trash talk my boss to you anymore though, knowing that you’re dating him.”

And Jungwoo was laughing and everything hurt, but Jaehyun would get over it, eventually.

“I’m sure we’ll find something else to talk about.” Jungwoo said once his laughter died down to a light chuckle.

Jaehyun smiled through his pain. He didn’t want to lose Jungwoo; He knew that this friendship was going to hurt, for a very long time, but he would have to suck it up and be the best friend that Jungwoo deserved.

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was titled Kylie Jaehyun au for the longest time in my drafts.  
> Mister Ocean said It's a bad religion to be in love with someone who could never love you. Thus, the title.  
> I love Channel Orange and Bad Religion in particular and this fic was not supposed to be this deep but it turned out as such so there you have it.  
> kudos and comments pls although im positive only my two friends are going to read this. mwah.


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